


The Gayduation

by at1stsoo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, COVID-19, Comedy, Confessions, Coronavirus, Fluff, Graduation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24935038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/at1stsoo/pseuds/at1stsoo
Summary: Not even a pandemic can stop Jongin from confessing to his crush in physics class.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 67
Kudos: 253
Collections: The GraduaXion





	The Gayduation

Jongin had been preparing for two months, working up the courage to ask his crush out.

It started with him noticing the most attractive shaved head he ever did see, sitting five rows in front of him in the large lecture hall for physics. Amid a sea of 400 students, Kyungsoo’s head stood out like a beautiful bronze chestnut, or a fuzzy brown bear (both of which Jongin happens to adore). It took him a few class meetings to work his way closer, row by row, until Jongin was sitting right behind him.

Man, he wanted to rub Kyungsoo’s head. Feel the satisfaction of those thick hairs tickling his palm. Maybe even kiss it. But that’d be terribly weird without first introducing himself.

On week four, Jongin used the cliche “oops, I dropped my pen,” move as an excuse to speak with him and get his name. The next class, he moved to Kyungsoo’s row, but a subtle three seats away. Then two. 

And then luckily, he realized two of his other friends, Chanyeol and Jongdae, were in the same lecture hall. (It was easy to miss them when there 398 other people were milling about.) Jongin had to subject himself to their teasing, but he powered through and requested their help of sitting in his previous seat so he had a reason to sit right next to Kyungsoo during the next class.

“Do you have notes from last session? I think I lost mine,” Jongin said, trying to sound nonchalant even though his heart was thumping 1288 beats per minute.

Kyungsoo looked into his leather backpack, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses (glasses!!! Jongin’s chest nearly burst from uwu at the nerdy frames) up as they tried to slip down his nose. “Sure, here ya go.” He handed a spiral notebook to Jongin, who accepted it like it was a precious gem.

“Cool. I’ll try to copy fast before class starts,” Jongin  _ lied through his teeth. _ He wrote his notes painstakingly slowly, trying to both impress Kyungsoo with his neatest handwriting and stall so he could have a reason to maybe, possibly, stay after class with Kyungsoo, or meet up later in the day to return the notebook.

The brilliant plan worked to perfection, even with Dr. Zhang striding into class five minutes past their usual start time. Kyungsoo hung around after the lecture was over, and Jongin even got to walk him back to his dorm room which was, coincidentally, on the way to his own! (No it wasn’t. It was half a mile in the wrong direction, but Jongin will take that secret with him to the grave.)

From that day onward, Jongin offered to walk home with Kyungsoo after class ended. Since it was February, it was bitter cold each time, but their simple conversations warmed Jongin from the inside out. He got to know Kyungsoo as a quiet guy with a snarky side that contrasted his uber polite demeanor once he was truly comfortable with someone. He learned about Kyungsoo’s love of hot cocoa, disdain for social media, and appreciation for obscure R&B songs.

Each time Jongin dropped him off and then turned to retrace his steps back toward his own room, he would spend the whole time trying to psych himself up to confess and ask Kyungsoo out on a real date the next time.

But then he’d second guess himself. Maybe it was too simple, to just throw those words out there after weeks of getting to know each other. “I really like you. Be my boyfriend?” If only he’d asked Kyungsoo out on Valentine’s Day, but that felt too early, and now it felt too  _ late _ , and Jongin was slowly going insane.

Spring Break arrived the first week of March, and Kyungsoo headed back to his hometown to see his parents. Jongin decided the separation created the perfect opportunity: When they returned, he’d tell Kyungsoo how he’d missed him over break and how the time apart made him realize his feelings. Then he’d ask him out on a proper date with two tickets to see Daniel Caesar in concert. Yes, that’d be smooth, sauve, sensible.

And then… coronavirus happened. Surging cases, travel bans, state-wide shutdowns: The next thing Jongin knew, he was stuck states away from Kyungsoo. Without ever having gotten his phone number. And knowing there was no way to contact him on sns.  _ Damn you, Tiktok, you ain’t shit without Kyungsoo _ , he groaned into his pillow, hucking his phone to the floor like the dramatic hoe he was.

When his courses resumed online two weeks later, Jongin couldn’t sit next to Kyungsoo like before. While several of his other professors were Zoom stupid, it was just Jongin’s luck that Dr. Zhang was savvy and had the private messaging feature for the class chat turned off, so he couldn’t even send a sneaky note to his crush. Jongin cursed the pandemic and bats and shitty government protocols for his rotten luck.

His only hope was to be randomly assigned to a breakout room with Kyungsoo during the rare time when Dr. Zhang did class discussion (most likely because he’d run out of material before the end of their hour and a half class). Landing in the same breakout group as Kyungsoo when there were 50 for the class, though? Jongin was never good at math, but even he knew those were shit probabilities.

So he hatched a plan.

On the last day of class, Dr. Zhang was wrapping up the semester and reminding them what to study for the final exam. Jongin saw the participants number dropping, as some students started leaving before the official end of class. Although it was unlikely that Kyungsoo would be one of them who’d skip out early, Jongin couldn’t take that chance.

He took himself off mute and bellowed: “KYUNGSOO!”

~*~*~*~

If Kyungsoo never has another online class, it’ll still be too soon. Having to stare at his computer screen and take notes at the same time gives him immense eyestrain, his astigmatism driving him nuts with blurry, unfocused vision by the end of a day’s worth of courses.

He has his glasses propped up on the top of his fluffy hair, (damn not being able to get a haircut and leaving his clippers in his dorm when he’d gone home for break), and he’s rubbing his sore eyes, when he hears it.

“KYUNGSOO!”

“Excuse me, please make sure your mics are on mute,” Dr. Zhang says with a frown.

“I’m sorry professor, let me just make sure he’s here and doesn’t leave. KYUNGSOO!” calls out a familiar voice again. Well, as familiar as he can be while panic-stricken.

Kyungsoo is scrolling through pages and pages of students, looking for Jongin amid 365 students to make sure he isn’t crazy and it is really him. He takes himself off mute. “Uh, Jongin? I’m here.”

“Students,  _ please, _ ” Dr. Zhang says exasperatedly. “I only need a minute to wrap up.”

“Soo, stay for a bit after! I want to talk to you,” Jongin calls out.

“Okay. Sorry, professor.” Kyungsoo puts himself back on mute and wonders what this could be about.

Dr. Zhang finishes going over the finer physics details of balance and dismisses the class. Students start dropping the session by the hundreds, making it a lot easier for Kyungsoo to finally spot Jongin.

He’s holding a sign with Kyungsoo’s name on it, little hearts doodled all around.

Kyungsoo feels his face flush. Although most students have left, twenty or so decide to stick around, curious as to what is happening.

“Hi. Kyungsoo.” Jongin stammers, nervous smile on his gorgeous face. He looks tanner than Kyungsoo remembers, from back when Jongin used to walk him home after class each time. It was his favorite part of the week, walking with Jongin, even if it was a little noisy for his usual taste.

He guesses that just proves how much he really likes Jongin.

Kyungsoo had tried to find him each online class, in a tiny box in among a sea of heads on the screen. He was only successful twice, and both times, he could tell Jongin wasn’t really paying attention to the professor: His head was canted to the side, eyes turned upward like he was watching a YouTube video in the corner of his monitor or something. The angle was… very flattering for his chiseled bone structure. Kyungsoo had whimpered.

“Hi, Jongin. What’s… this for?” he asks shyly, gesturing at the poster in Jongin’s hand.

“I, uh, wanted to come prepared. In case the internet lags or something while I do this. Because that would suc--”

Ironically, Jongin’s screen freezes mid-sentence. Kyungsoo can’t help but laugh, face scrunching up with glee.

When Jongin’s internet kicks back in, he’s holding up a new poster that simply says: “I miss you more than the gym,” with a little stick figure pumping iron to the side.

Kyungsoo smiles a big heart-shaped smile, feeling the flush extend now to the tip of his ears. Jongin was an avid gym rat, always talking up his new benchpress numbers while insisting that he wasn’t really a jock.

Jongin drops the poster to reveal another one: “I wish I could walk you home again.” This time, the stick figure (with doodled on bicep bulges) is holding hands with a shorter stick figure. Jongin even gave stick-Kyungsoo teeny tiny hairs on the top of his head to resemble his shaved look from before.

Jongin drops the poster to reveal one more: “But most of all, I wish you’d be mine.” This time, the stick figures are kissing, lil lips puckered together while a bright pink heart hovers above them. “I really like you, Kyungsoo,” Jongin says aloud.

There’s a chorus of “awwwws” throughout the Zoom crowd of students, and two of them hold up posters of their own. Kyungsoo vaguely recognizes the guys as people who have sat in their row before, each holding up a sign that says, “He really does!” and “Won’t shut up about you!” They drop them to show matching posters that exclaim in all caps, “PLEASE ACCEPT HIM.”

Embarrassed, Kyungsoo covers his face with his hands for a second, before straightening back up. “Jongin. This is such shit timing.”

“Yeah…” Jongin admits sheepishly. “Coronavirus and all, but--”

Kyungsoo snorts. “No, I mean. You do realize I’m  _ graduating _ next week.”

Jongin’s wide eyes make it clear that no, no he did  _ not _ realize this. “You’re older than me?”

“Yeah.”

  
“How did I not know this??”

Kyungsoo laughs. “I’m not sure but, yeah. I’m a senior.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo notices Jongdae slowly retract a party popper he was about to set off, hiding behind his back with a sad face.

“Oh…” Jongin is absolutely crestfallen, shoulders sagging.

“But I got a job half an hour away!” Kyungsoo blurts out. “I just… haven’t talked about it because I don’t know if it’s going to go through, what with the economy and all right now.”

Jongin perks back up. “But you’re coming back. When’s your start date?”

“August, supposedly.”

“Well we’re gonna be in some form of lockdown between now and then anyway, right? We could do Zoom dates! Movie nights on Netflix Party! Uhh online gaming!” Jongin pitches these ideas with all the enthusiasm of an expert salesman.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo agrees with a gummy smile. “We could.”

“So, uh, what do ya say?” Jongin asks again, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Chanyeol and Jongdae quickly scramble to pick their signs back up. Chanyeol’s is upside down. It’s precious.

“I really like you, too, Jongin. I’ll, uh…” Kyungsoo looks around his desk and rips out a sheet of paper. He bites his pen cap to pluck it off and quickly scribbles his phone number on the page. “Give you my number? Before we get cut off?”

“You’re fine, take your time,” Dr. Zhang says, and it could be Kyungsoo’s imagination, but he thinks he sees their professor wipe a tear from his eye.

Kyungsoo holds up his phone number, and Chanyeol and Jongdae have dropped their signs in order to throw confetti in the air and blow party horns.

Five seconds later, he gets a text from Jongin on his phone.

_ I promise, I’ll make this quarantine the most fun you’ve ever had _

_ Shit, that sounds insensitive _

_ Lol it does, but I get what you mean _

_ I’ve missed you, too _

_ I’ll care package you snacks for our movie dates so it still feels like I’m taking you out _

_ Aw, modern dating _

_ Can’t wait :) _

It’s not how he expected to end his college career, with a Zoom confession during a pandemic, but it feels pretty perfect, all things considered.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the wonderful mods for this fest! 💕 The posters were meant to be very Love, Actually inspired. Here's hoping your pandemic experience was made a little brighter from this oneshot. Congrats to the class of 2020!
> 
> If you enjoyed this shy Kaisoo trying to confess to each other, you might enjoy these other fluffy crush fics: [The K in Kdrama Stands for Kaisoo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20247040) or [Sneaky Kisses](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23450134)
> 
> at1stsoo
> 
> [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/at1stsoo)


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